The Ride Ultimatum
by SkiGirraffe
Summary: The flock keeps running away from the School and now they've gone so far as to split up. Max and Fang end up on the coast of Rhode Island. After MR1, but 6 months after end. t for safety... dunno where it might go. Short chaps and rather infrequent posts.
1. hate notes and rhode island

**Ok, this is my first fanfic… so if is sucks, that's why!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize from the Maximum Ride books.**

Max POV

I flopped on my bed in our hotel room. I looked over at the other bed that was a mere two feet away. Fang's bed. Why did we have to share a room? I'm a girl; he's a guy… how much clearer does it get? I looked away, disgusted. Some little voice in the back of my head told me that I shouldn't mind, we'd lived together for what, our whole lives? I told it to shut up. I know that that the little voice was right, and I shouldn't care, but I hated Fang right then. Like, I really, REALLY hated him. I sighed, then rolled over and got my diary out from under my bed. I hadn't written in it yet about how we were in Rhode Island or how mush I hated Fang or anything recently, for that matter.

_5/26_

_It's me again, Maximum Ride. Guess what? Fang is an idiot. The biggest one that ever lived, in fact. I hate him. I hate him more than anyone, even the whitecoats. Hate, hate, hate Fang._

It felt good to have that in writing, so I turned that page and started a new entry.

5/26

We're in Rhode Island right now. Did you know that Rhode Island is the smallest state and it has a bigger population than the biggest state, Alaska? well, I'm pretty sure it's true. that's what I heard at least… we're staying in a hotel that has a beautiful big window that looks out onto this little harbor in the blue, blue ocean. oh, yeah. the ocean… maybe I should explain why we're in Rhode Island or along the east coast at all. we're going to try to fly across the ocean.

**it kinda sucks, I know, but hey, I try…**

**if you review I'll post another chappie maybe tomorrow or the next day.**


	2. pizza and naps

**Thanks for the reviews… oh, btw… this takes place after book-o uno-o (aka book 1)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own max or fang or any of his hotness ;) **

**Not much else to say other than…**

**Hobey-ho, let's go … (sorry, it's a pendragon thing) **

**Fang pov**

We checked into a hotel at around 6:00am. I went to go look around the harbor to give Max, who was furious at me for some reason, some time to think. I shuffled along the docks and smelled the warm, moist ocean air. I looked up at the sky, the blue, blue sky. It would be a perfect day to get started on our journey, but I knew Max would never agree to it. I sighed. Max.

**Max pov**

I looked out the window at Fang and tried not to vandalize anything. Just then an evil little light bulb flashed over my head. A wicked grin replaced the scowl on my face. I walked slowly over to my bed and reached under it. I opened my diary and carefully tore out the first 5/26 entry and folded it in half. I slipped it under Fang's pillow, where I know he put his arm when he slept. Then I took out my cell phone and called pizza delivery. Now, I had clearly told the flock that they were NOT under ANY circumstances to use their cell phones (even if the situation was dire enough as ordering a pizza), because the school could track them as easily as tracking a moose in a herd of bunnies. Or something like that… Anyway, once I had ordered the pizza (an extra large-ish-small Canadian bacon, pineapple, stuffed mushroom, with extra cheese, but without meat, fruits, veggies, dairy or crust. What can I say? I was in an evil mood.) I settled down to a nap. I was awoken by the hotel phone ringing. "You have a pizza delivery,"

Said the nasally voice on the other side of the line.

"Send it up" I said. A moment later the buzzer for out door rang and I answered it. A handsome young man stood holding the pizza box. Then came the hideous transformation into an Eraser.

"I believe these are yours?" Asked Ari smoothly

"Why, yes, they are" I replied and brushed past him into the hall. "I was hoping you'd come" I breathed down his furry neck. He turned back into his human self and spun around, setting down the pizza box. His lips were only a few inches from mine. "Really?" He whispered.

"Really," I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. He put his arms around my waist and kissed my lips tentatively. "I've always loved you" I murmured and kissed him again. We stood like that, kissing, for a good five minutes or more. I wanted that to last forever, knowing that I would be safe as long as I was with Ari.

**AHHHH!!! Safe with Ari?? Now THAT is a cliffy (at least that's what I'm going for…) stay tuned and review lotz, y'all!**


	3. cell phones and toilets

**Blah blah blah, blah blah blah… how do people actually find things to write in these a/n forward things??**

**Disclaimer: max and fang and ari ain't mine**

FANG POV

I walked up to the room, hoping Max would have cooled off a bit and would maybe agree to an early morning departure tomorrow. When I reached it I saw the noor hanging wide open and a pizza bov in the doorway. I stepped into the room and say that Maw wasn't there anymore. I tried hard not to panic, but that's kind of difficult when you're a paranoid teenage mutant bird that has mutant wolfs ready to torture and kill you always looming in the shadows. So I panicked. I looked around the room wildly and found Max's cell phone lying on her bed, glowing slightly. Ohhh no. Ari… oh no, oh no, oh no! I ran to the pizza box and skidded the last yard or so on my black jeans. I touched the bottom of the box, feeling that it was still warm. So I knew she hadn't been taken too long ago. I ran the short distance back to max's bed and tried to turn off her phone. I was never very good with anything like that and I couldn't get the freakin' thing to turn off. I opened the window and chucked the blasted phone as far a I could. I watched it arc then land in the water with a small but satifying sploosh. With that done I decided to lay down, think things out and try to get calm. I shoved my hand under my pillow where I always put it when I slept. Huh?

**a/n oh yeah, guys, you know what's comin'! sorry... back to the story… zip the lip zipping lips :-# (zipped lips) oops, SORRY!**

There was a slip of paper there. I pulled it out and read it. I felt my face getting hotter with each scribble of a word. I tore the paper into millions of tiny bits and flushed then down the toilet. I couldn't believe that Max hated me so much. I'd never been her biggest fan, sure, but I would never write that in my diary! (and yes, I do have a diary. Max made us each keep one to help deal with stress, or something. I know what you're thinking: "what the heck??") Well, if I did, I would never, ever, ever make sure Max saw it! Right then I made a decition. I was not going to save Max.

**Very short, I know, but that's what you're gonna have to expect from me, short, short chappies. But, hey, count your blessings, I did update, so therefore I'm sure you are all very happy with me!**


	4. author's notes and writer's block

author's note:

I'm so, so, so, so, sorry to keep you waiting for such a long time, but I'm suffering from an extreme case of writer's block. (

so, any and all suggestions are welcome to help me out, here. once I get what's going to happen sorted out in my mind, I'll update AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! ok?

remember: review your suggestions!!!


	5. questions and white knuckles

**Don't think that just because I'm updating it means I'm through with the writer's**

**block! Still send suggestions, ok??**

**FAQ (and comments)**

**Yes, this is after MR1, no, I have not read the third book**

**Sorry about all the spelling errors in the third chapter, they were just that: errors**

**also sorry about max being portrayed as crazy, I'll get to answering why later**

**Disclaimer: I don't own fang, max, Ari, or anything else you recognize from the max**

**ride books.**

**Fang POV**

I wasn't sure what to do next. Go across the ocean without Max? I was mad at her… but

was I THAT mad? If not should I wait for her to waltz in and say "oh, yeah, ha-ha, sorry

about the delay and all!"? After all, I had concluded that I wouldn't save her, right?

So what was I to do? All these questions were swirling around may head, and I'm

no good at thinking on an empty stomach, so I decided to think later and eat now.

**Max POV (before fang comes back to the room)**

Ari led me out to a big black van parked in the parking lot of the hotel, acting like a butler,

linking arms with me, opening doors, and tipping an imaginary hat to me. I giggled on

many occasions, which made Ari smile. Everything felt so natural and _right_. I hopped

right on into the van and my face fell. I hadn't expected there to be other people in it!

I wanted it to be max-Ari bonding time, without anyone else. I didn't recognize the strange man sitting at the wheel, but he was stereo-typical tough guy. He had sunglasses

and a buzz cut. His arms were nearly bursting the seams on the sleeves of his leather jacket, making it almost skintight. He was staring strait ahead and he was squeezing the

steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Ari sat in shotgun,

slammed the door and just like that we were speeding down the road. the trees lining the

side of the road formed a green blur, and when I checked the speedometer it was up to

100, 120, 140, and then finally we reached the 150 miles per hour mark. in no time at all we were weaving among the traffic on the main freeway. I heard police sirens behind us

for a while, but Mr. toughie jacked up the speed to 170 and we left them far behind. I

marveled at the speedometer, because it went all the way up to 250. we drove a day and

night keeping up the same speed give or take a little. we stopped once to eat and go to

the bathroom in Ohio, but then we were off again. after driving maniacally like this for

about two days and three nights (the driver NEVER SLEPT. I was starting to think he

was some sort of a robot) I saw the one thing I had hoped I never would again: the

School.

**yawn that was the most boring chapter I've ever written or read EVER. now you**

**see how desperate my case of WB is?? so, friends, I leave you with this**

**message: REVIEW SUGGESIONS OR I BITE THE GINGERBREAD MAN'S**

**HEAD OFF!**


	6. sleeping and Migos

**thanks for the few review-y suggestions that I got. Especially you, fernstorm. I'm going to use it for this chappie.**

**disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that you recognize from the Maximum Ride books**

**max POV **

there it was. the School. I shuddered, then I realized that we weren't driving into the parking lot.

"ari… where are you taking me?" I asked warily. he didn't answer, instead, he just turned to face me and give me a smirk. the nice, warm, fuzzy feeling when I looked at ari was kind of wearing off. suddenly I felt very tired, so I lay my head on the window and fell asleep right away.

time passed, I think it was about an hour, and eventually I woke up. I looked around, not knowing where I was. I felt groggy, and, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't remember what was going on. then suddenly it hit me. I looked up front to see ari sleeping and the driver still sitting white-knucked at the wheel, even though the van had stopped moving. I panicked. why had I wanted ari to come and capture me? I couldn't come up with the fuzzy feeling, I couldn't believe I actually had before. I lied my head back down on the window and pretended to be asleep. a plan formulated in my head as I heard ari wake up and feel the van start to move again. I pretended to wake up and yawn. I looked out the window and saw that we were in some kind of a parking ramp. I faked another yawn and asked, "ari, where are we?"

"hey, sleepyhead. it's good to see you awake!" he smiled.

"answer the question," I said, trying not to growl.

his smile dissapeard.

"sweetie, I need to tell you something," he said, obviously avoiding the point. "you see, the School is old news. I'm starting a new creation. I call it "Migo"!" he said this with a huge flourish of his arms.

I tried really hard to stay calm and pretend that I still held respect for ari, like he thought I did.

"what does it do?"

"well, doll, you see this guy here," he slapped the driver's arm with the back of his hand, and he growled, "this is a Migo. I took a human and added lion, gorilla and dog DNA to make it strong, aggressive, and loyal." he smirked, "waddya think?"

I was horrified. I couldn't imagine having to do whatever ari wanted me to. then a sick thought hit me. why was ari bringing me here?

**get it? get it?**

**so ari's making Migos and he brought max there… wouldn't it be great to have a Migo that could fly??**

**REVIEW!**


	7. Migo questions and walls

**Ok, just to let you know, I wasn't giving it away, you were supposed to figure out that Ari was probably going to make max a Migo, and if you didn't already, I was helping you out.**

**Disclaimer: blah blah blah, you know the drill**

**Here we go then… I give you… CHAPTER SIX!**

**Still Max POV **

I was stunned. I really, really, did NOT want to have more tests, more pain, and make me any more mutant-y… especially if it was Ari doing it. I sat in the back of the van thinking hard about all this Migo stuff when a thought hit me. If the driver guy was a mix of a man, lion, gorilla, and dog, then why didn't he look like just a man? And that still didn't explain how he could stay awake for so long. I decided that once I got over my shock and regained the ability to speak I would ask Ari. Just then we went around a steep incline and turn on the parking ramp.

"WOAHHH!" I yelled. I guess I already had regained it. "Ari?"

He turned towards me with a sweet smile.

"Yes, my sexy love?"

My head nearly blew off. "_His sexy love??" _First "sleepyhead", then "doll", and now this?? I tried really hard to not let that head blow off. I tried to smile sexily back, but I think I looked more constipated than sexy.

"Well, you know your _oh-so-wonderful_ new creation?" I tried not to sound too sarcastic.

"Yeah… what about it?"

"I was doing some thinking, and I thought that if they had DNA from a lion, gorilla, and dog, then why does he look like a human?"

"Ah… I was just _waiting_ for someone to ask that so I could display my extreme smartyness."

I thought about pointing out that it wasn't very "smarty" to say "smartyness" which was (and still is) not a word, but I decided against it. He continued, "Well, you see, since he was originally a human, he has more human DNA than anything else, so he mostly looks human, but if you look closely then you'll see that he has a few blemishes of his other beings."

When I looked I did see, he had huge paw-like hands with claws instead of fingernails, very hairy gorilla arms, and once when he opened his mouth for one of his rare yawns a saw a long, dog-ish tongue curl up and out of his mouth.

"Ari?" I asked again.

"Mm?"

"I have another question about Migos."

"Shoot," he said, trying to be cool. (And failing miserably, I might add)

"How come he hasn't slept for so long? It's not like any of those animals can live without sleeping."

"Well, hun-y buns," (I gagged here) "it's complicated. You see, each of these animals can go without sleep for about a day, a night, and maybe another day, so about 2 ½ twelve hour periods, right? So, when I combined all the animals, it combined the time it can spend awake. So Migos can stay awake for about ten twelve hour periods, or five days."

That was complicated? I wondered what was simple for this guy.

By now we were on the 25th and final level of the parking ramp. The Migo drove around for a bit, as if looking for a parking spot, but they were all empty. Ari hit the Migo with the back of his hand, and the Migo grunted.

"Right there, you idiot!" Ari hissed and pointed to a spot with one of those "facility parking only" signs. The Migo grunted again and pulled into the spot.

And drove through the wall behind it.

**GASP! Through the wall?? Wow!**

**Don't you just love moderately long chappies??**

**Review lotz, adoring fans**


	8. hollograms and sore jaws

**basking in all the great reviews I love you all! Gosh, I think you're the most adoring audience ever… oh, and any MARIs might want to leave right now if you want to keep giving me good reviews. That's the way. Press that lil' red ****X**** in the corner**

**Are they gone?**

**Good… cuz there JUST MIGHT be some FAX in these coming chappies. Now don't go getting your hopes up, I don't know yet. ON TO CHAPTER… um… 7? 8? I've lost track, and I'm too lazy to look now**

**Well, anyway**

**Disclaimerrrrr: I don't own anything AT ALL… you know, like, in the story… never mind…**

**Max pov**

I screamed. I think most of us would if we're in a car that just drove through a wall on the 25th story. I guess Ari didn't think about intelligence or not when making Migos. three dumb animals against one maybe/maybe not smart guy… and then giving it a van that can go to 250 mph… wonder how that will turn out. Evidently, it turned out by them driving through walls on the highest level of parking ramp. Oh, joy. We plummeted to the earth at Godspeed, the trash-littered ground coming closer with every frantic beat of my heart. My mind was going just as fast as my heart was, so eventually I got the idea that I should probably jump out the window and fly away. Just as I was about to go unlock the door, I figured out I didn't need to, because when I looked through the window, I saw that the garbage was moving way slower than before. Hello. what was that all about? Strange…

"…Ari?" I asked uneasily, totally creeped out by the sudden change, "What's going on?"

He looked back and gave me one of the usual smirks.

"Wait, you thought that he didn't _mean_ to drive through the wall?? Darling, darling, really, you didn't honestly, did you?" he chuckled a bit and shook his head.

"Um… yeah…"

"Well, you see, that wall was just a hologram. And now we are floating peacefully down to another hologram that can't be reached by the ground. You see, we are about to descend into a hole in the middle of a landfill."

I looked around outside the windows and it was true, the trash was all around us, on top to the sides and below. But where it directly touched the van there was nothing but little flickers of blue electricity. We passed slowly through, and landed with a hard enough thump to knock my head against the window and make everything go black.

**Fang pov (before max gets to the landfill thing) (don't worry; when I finish this chap everything will be at the same time)**

I was back from my spree at the pizza parlor, but I still wasn't thinking any better than before. I was, however settled down inside, not as mad as I was before. I sighed. What _should_ I do?? I decided to give it a couple days, and then leave to go find where Ari had taken Max and save her. So I set about waiting. I couldn't think of anything to do. Go explore? Already did. Sleep? Already tried, didn't turn out so well. Go swimming or watch a movie or something? Could I truly enjoy myself while max was missing? Eventually I decided that I should just go after her now. After all, that would give me more time to catch up than if I left a couple days later. So I packed up our bags, as in putting an extra change of socks and underwear in a little bag with our diaries, money and first aid kit. I checked out of the hotel and headed into the nearest woods. Seeing as we were staying in a big city, I had to ride a bus for a half hour until I got to the edge of town. I hate small, crowded spaces I can't get out of. I think it may have something to do with the whole having to live in a constant state of paranoia, and having had past experiences of being in an area I couldn't leave that had Erasers in it. So, I pretty much sat stone still, tensely staring at the seat in front of me and jumping whenever someone new sat in the seat next to me for thirty minutes. When I finally got off my jaw was sore from clenching my teeth, but I was mostly relived to be out and near a forest. I ran in on a well-worn hiking trail and followed it until I saw a clearing not too far off the path. I cut to it and took off from there and headed towards the interstate. When I got to it, I followed it strait west, keeping my birdie eyes peeled for any black vans that the School used. I flew faster than most of the cars were driving, and rested only for short periods of time, not wanting to miss anything. I went on like this for a few days until one night I saw it: a black van with tinted windows that was the only car on the freeway going just as fast as I was. I flew laboriously nonstop for the rest of the night until I saw the sun peeking over the horizon. Finally I decided that I had had enough, and even if Max was in that van, I could physically go no further. I coasted down and landed on the roof a nearby parking ramp, breathing heavily, but still keeping my keen eyes on the van. Amazingly enough, it pulled into the parking ramp I was on top of, and so went out of my site.

**w00t!!!!!! Super super super long chappppppie!!!!! Longest one I've ever written, in fact. b00 yah! So, yeah. Oh, and sorry, I guess it's not EXACTLY the same time, but at least it's way closer than before…**

**Review all the time. I HAVE BARELY ANY REVIEWS AND I'M DYIN' HERE!!! YOU MUST REVIEW!!! Pretty please? bambie eyes please? sniffle**


	9. Fights and Death

**SORRY I left you guys waiting so long! My teachers like to torture us with lots of homework… IT'S NOT MY FAULT!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own max or fang or ari, I do, however, own migos**

**Oh and about migos, it's man, lion, gorilla, and dog, alternating first and second letters to get Migo. **

**Still Fang pov**

I stayed on the roof, figuring that they had to come out sometime, and I still hadn't regained enough energy to do anything else. I kept my eyes peeled for anything or anyone coming out of the ramp.

Suddenly the black van came sailing out through a wall not too far below me. I hit deck and flattened myself against the floor instinctively. Just then I realized that Max was in that van that was now falling 250 feet to its – and everyone in its – certain death. I took off from the roof, forgetting how tired I was. However, it caught up to me, so I fell too. I made myself as aerodynamic as possible and sped towards the falling van. I unfurled my wings when my feet were about 3 feet from the hood of the car. I winced in pain from the sudden stop, but it did the job. I landed silently on the hood, after my wings successfully acted as a parachute.

The van was still falling, but suddenly I heard a little hum and the speed decreased greatly. We floated down, me crouching on the roof, hoping I was still undiscovered. Eventually we reached the ground, a landfill, evidently, but didn't stop there. We went straight through the ground, a type of hologram, I guessed. When the "ground" reached me, I went through, too, a constant tingling running up and down my nerves.

We landed on the real ground, a cement floor in the middle of a large, dimly lit room. The room had dozens of vans like the one I was on, and was completely cemented: walls, floor, ceiling, everything.

I saw Ari get out of the passenger side of the van, and I flattened myself to the roof, covering myself with my wings to try and blend in. Ari took out a walky-talky and said into,

"yeah, she's out. We're in parking sector B. you can come get her from there. No sign of the others." He paused, waiting for an answer. After a couple seconds it came.

"ok," said a beautiful woman's voice, " we'll come get her."

"good," Ari said with a smile, "good."

He put the walky-talky back on his belt, and leaned against the side of the van. I decided I had to act quickly, before whoever was coming came.

I leapt up and planted a pile-driver on the back of Ari's head. He jumped in the air, and while he was there, he transformed into a, Eraser. He roared in a mixture of pain and realization. He threw a punch aimed at my gut, but I dodged it easily. He was a bit out of it, anyway. I jumped into a roundhouse kick. It landed right on Ari's jaw, causing blood to spurt out of his mouth. He leaned against the door, breathing heavily.

I swung my arm at the backs of his knees, and he crumbled to the floor, his head landing with a sickening thump. Just as I thought I was through with fighting, the driver's door opened and out walked the hugest, toughest guy I've ever seen. He rolled up his sleeves, his face set in a snarl.

I snapped into action. I threw a punch aimed at his nose, but he blocked it. I tried a kick for his gut. He blocked it. All at once he punched me right in my stomach. He punched hard. Harder than anything. The wind was knocked out of me and I staggered backwards. I gagged, a trickle of blood running out of my mouth. i gasped for my breath back as he advanced on me. I silently said my prayers, as I prepared myself for the killing blow.

But it never came.

I opened one eye and saw that Max had finally come to. She had opened her door and smacked the guy right in the nose. She had a bewildered look on her face and was staring at me like I was a god, or something. Now that I think about it, I was probably looking at her the same way.

I took a shaky breath, stood up and shoved the guy's nose up and into his brain. His eyes rolled back and he slumped over. Dead.

**woo-hoo! **

**I'd say that makes up for all the time I haven't updated! **

**The LONGEST chap I've EVER written. 3 pages fully filled on word!**

**So, guys, I'd greatly appreciate reviews.**

**Oh, and I'm probably going to update again today. But don't hold it against me if I don't, ok?**

**Yay!**


	10. flashbacks and french

**Here we go!**

**Hm… it's been a really long time, but I'm sick of apologizing for that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from max ride**

**Max pov**

He came.

Fang actually came.

I couldn't believe it. After all the terrible things I'd said and done to him, he still came to save me.

**Recap:**

I'd woken up, and I saw that Ari and the Migo were gone, so I decided that I should probably try to escape. I opened the door, but it slammed into something. I looked and saw that it was the Migo. Huh?

I heard a little sound, and looked to see Fang, clothes torn, blood all over, hunched on the ground. He had come to save me. Wow. I stared wide-eyed at him and he looked at me gratefully, because I had just saved his life. He got up on shaky legs, walked over to the Migo, and smashed his palm on the bottom of his nose, causing it to go up into the Migo's brain and kill it.

**Now:**

I smiled feebly at Fang, tears in the corners of my eyes. He limped over to me, took my hand and said,

"we should go, Ari's sending people to come get you."

I nodded, beyond words.

We took off, flying slowly at first, to help with Fang's pain, but once we heard voices, we had no choice but to speed up. When we flew through the hologram trash, my whole body tingled. We got into the open air, flew up as high and fast as we could, to avoid onlookers, then hovered about 300 feet from the ground.

"you think they'll come after us?" I asked

Fang shot me a look.

"duh," he said. I smiled. Why had I ever hated him? I couldn't even remember.

**Flashback**

_We went to a party as a kind of goodbye before the flock split up. Angel and Nudge picked a dress out for me to wear. Of course, Fang and Iggy just wore suits. There were three different parties: kids', teens', and adults'. Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge went to the kid's party where a bunch of kids ran around, watched movies, ate crackers and cheese, and drank juice. Fang, Iggy and I went to the teen party, and we had a lot of fun. I had just been called up to sing karaoke, and I decided to sing "easy silence". I read the words off the screen, even though I already had them memorized._

"When the calls and conversations

Accidents and accusations  
Messages and misperceptions  
Paralyze my mind"

_I wasn't quite sure why I chose that song, but when I started singing it I realized it was my song for Fang. It described perfectly how I felt about him.__ I kept singing._   
"Busses, cars, and airplanes leaving  
Burning fumes of gasoline  
And everyone is running  
And I come to find a refuge in the

Easy silence that you make for me  
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me  
In the peaceful quiet you create for me  
And the way you keep the world at bay for me  
The way you keep the world at bay"

_I was super thirsty from all the singing, so when someone offered me a glass of water, I took it and drank it in a matter of seconds. I started to feel lightheaded. The room spun._

_I swayed back and forth. I fell hard on the stage and passed out._

_From then on everything's kind of a blur, but all I know is that when I woke up, I hated Fang with an intense passion._

**End flashback**

Heh heh…

How dumb do I get??

There was very obviously something in the drink that I got that made me hate Fang. As I hovered I wondered how they did it. I didn't get very far in my pondering, because Fang pulled on my hand.

"come on, Max," he said gently.

"we really do have to go."

"yeah," I said with a nod, and we flew away from the little hole of Hell.

**Do pardon my French, but honestly, is there anything else you can call it??**

**Well, sorry for not updating, and review lotsssssss.**


	11. Cornfields and bit lips

Okay

**Okay. Terribly sorry. I wish I had an excuse this time, but what on EARTH could keep me busy enough to not have gotten on for six months or whatever? Well, here goes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Max Ride or anything from ze Maximum Ride books.**

**Max POV**

We flew back to the hotel, having nowhere else to go. After flying for about a half hour we got into the swing of things, and found the best air currents, so we were able to fly full speed, which was about as fast as the van was initially going. As we flew I told Fang my realization, and then my journey as I remembered it. By nightfall we were tired, that's for sure, but we kept going, just at a slower pace. Around midnight we had to slow to a stop and landed in a corn field about a half mile away from the interstate. We used the little energy we had left to run there, just in time to see a black van weaving like a bullet between cars. I cursed under my breath.

"Max, we are so dumb" I heard a slight voice behind me. I turned to Fang.

"Whaddya mean?" I said, slightly offended. At least had said it about himself too.

"Why are we following the interstate again?"

"Because we need to keep an eye out for the vans, obviously," I said after a moment of quick thinking.

"Right, Max. I'm sure that's what it is," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Because we _obviously_ don't know how long it will take them to get back to Rhode Island…"

I sighed, defeated. I knew I was being illogical and Fang wasn't, but who doesn't like being right every once in a while?

"Yeah, I guess you're right." then a thought came to me, "you got a map? That just _might_ help if we wanna short cut back…"

Fang looked at me like I was insane, which, by what I just said, I might seriously consider after what I just said.

"Max. Not _all _of us were in a stupor when we came this way. Not _all _of us were drugged silly. _Of course_ I have a map, Max! I have a map in my head! Have you lost all faith in us avian hybrids, and more specifically me? I thought you might have gotten at least a little kinder and had a little more faith in me, Max." he sounded genuinely hurt, and I even spotted a hint of deep pain in his eyes. I took a small step closer to him.

"No, Fang. I'm sorry," and I meant it. I looked up into his eyes and, for the millionth time that day wondered _what on earth_ was in that drink to make me hate _Fang_, of all people, with such a terrible fiery passion. Fang gazed back at me and took my hand, then after a moment whispered,

"Max, we should get some sleep." his voice was hoarse as if he was trying to hold back tears. No, that couldn't be true. It must have just been my imagination, because Fang never _ever _cries. He abruptly dropped my hand and found a soft spot to lie. I kept standing there, my mouth slightly open, the only breaths I had short and stunted. I closed my mouth and bit my lip, then slowly lowered my eyelids. Man, leave it to Fang to leave me breathless like that, wishing for more, just a little more time to look at his eyes like that. I took a deep breath, opened my eyes, and found a spot on the ground to hunker down.

**Yay! Let's all give a great big shout out to short chappies! Hip, hip, HOORAY! Well, no worries, my dear lil' friends, no worries. I shall update today, have no fear. Now. I have to go through all this work to come up with an interesting story for all my fans, and all you have to do is read it? I think not! Review like mad! Mad, I tell you, MAD!**


	12. Mental Kicks and WWII

Oh yeah

**Oh yeah! Uh huh! That's right! Second time in one day! **

**Dis**

**Claim**

**Er**

**:**

**I don't own Maximoom Riday, okay? Hey! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!**

**Fang POV**

I mentally kicked myself _once again_. Yeah. That was a _great_ idea, Fang. Just leave her standing there. So what if you're tired? That was the _perfect _ moment! And you had to ruin it. I sighed. Could that type of thing be recaptured? Could I apologize tomorrow morning and just start where we left off? Where did we leave off anyway? Was it even going anywhere? I sighed again. It probably wasn't. She was just apologizing for a perfectly fine question that I blew up at irrationally. Why did I care so much? I knew the answer, of course. It was the same reason I freaked when I saw that hate note she wrote. It was the reason id been trying to avoid for almost two years now. It was the reason I was now so mad at myself. But that was about to stop. I had no reason to freak out any of those times, and I had no reason to. None at all. there was a little part of my brain that knew that was a total lie, but the lying part of my brain occupied it like Germany occupied France in WWII, and soon I was exhausted from trying to convince myself that I was being totally irrational, and I shouldn't have been angry when Max doubted me and hated me and then when I walked away. Therefore I fell asleep within minutes of lying down.

I woke just as the sun was just sending little messenger beams above the horizon to alert the world that morning was coming in an hour or so. I had a familiar sore feeling in my jaw that came from clenching my teeth as I slept, but I ignored and stretched and yawned. I spotted Max out of the corner of my eye, sleeping far away in a little ball. I sighed and had a little D-Day inside my head. France regained control and Germany fell completely. I couldn't avoid it any more, and that was a fact I knew for certain now. I loved Max, and I couldn't run away from it.

**Holy **_**cow**_**! That's definitely the shortest chapter in the whole entire freakin' **_**history **_**of short chapters, but how could I go on? It was simply the most perfect spot to stop! Well, it doesn't matter, cuz you know what coming… that's right, **_**another**_** chappie today! Woo hoo! See y'all later when you review and when I write this next chappie!**


	13. McDonalds and Waiting rooms

… And another 

… **And another ******

**Disclaimer: don't own it; now let's get on with the chapter, shall we?**

**Oh, and y'all? If you like this, read **_**A New Group…**_** 'Tis amazing. It's Max Ride, rated T, in progress, and I think its one of my favorites too. Yeah, I just checked and it is. So check it out and review!**

**Max POV**

I woke up, still rather downhearted from last night's, well, what do you even call that? None the less, I tried to ignore it and put a moderately happy face on.

"We need to go," I said. Fang nodded and when I tried to read what his face, it went blank. It was a talent of his to know when I was trying to tell his emotions, and now it was a habit that he was annoyingly good at, to my dismay, to just turn off all signs that he had any emotions at all. I sighed and ran out into the middle of the field, about where we had landed the night before. I lunged into the air, and right when I stared heading towards the ground I opened my wings and pumped them hard, launching higher and higher. I then flew steadily for a bit, then relaxed my wings and turned head first towards the ground.

Flying. Well, it's amazing. It brought my spirits up right away. I saw Fang flying normally beneath me. I reached him in no time and shouted,

"Come one Fang! It's great! Have some fun!" I kept falling and when I started to get worried about the ground, I held out for a tiny second more, then unfurled my wings and swooped down. I was flying close to the ground now, about ten feet up. I steadily lowered myself down when I saw a pond, and skimmed along it. I heard a whoosh to my left, and when I looked, there was Fang, grinning at me. He suddenly curved up and I followed, only faster. I passed him up in his ascent, and then circled around him playfully. He stopped and dropped like a rock, then swooped up into a helix. I was starting to feel weak, and I could tell Fang was too.

"Food," I said automatically. We spotted a McDonalds across a highway from us, so we landed. I lied down, and I guess I must have fallen asleep, because I woke to my stomach growling, reminding me that I'd neglected that pizza and therefore not had anything to eat for a very long time. Fang threw me a McDonald's bag in response to my stomach's call of hunger, which I opened with maniac speed. I took out my egg mcmuffins and snarfed both down hungrily.

I took my two wrappers along with Fangs, put them in a bag, and then crossed the high way to the McDonalds where a trash can was. After dodging a couple cars that honked at me like I was mad, and, if I were a normal human kid, I guess it would be pretty crazy to cross a highway like that. However, I just smiled and waved to them, and watched their bewildered looks as I made it across five lanes with speeding cars safely. I laughed, still in a good mood from the flying spree we'd had. I sighed happily, adding a fitting end to my laughing. I saw other similar wrappers littered across the parking lot, and thus gathered that there were no trash cans outside. I walked on in, and saw that the single garbage bin was being emptied. I considered just throwing the wrappers on the parking lot like the other customers, but decided against it. I was just in such a good mood I simply couldn't litter like that. I walked across the parking lot to a law office. There was a first waiting room, then signs for another down the hall, and yet another further down with a reception desk.

"Sheesh," I muttered to myself, "how many clients do you have?"

There were people in the first waiting room where I was standing and, out of habit and instinct, I walked to the next one as to not draw attention to myself, even if I was just throwing away McDonalds wrappers. As I rounded the corner to the next room, I saw something I hadn't been expecting to see for a long time. Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel.

**Dun dun dunnnnnn… now, I WANT to update more, but I do believe I'm being kicked off the computer… I will try to get on tonight, after my labor day festivities. If not, I'll try for tomorrow, but it's the first day of school, so I can't make any promises. Now, I hope these three chappies, especially this long one, all in one day, will kinda sorta help ease the pain of lack of Ride Ultimatum for eight months or whatever it was. So, review like mad, if you still read this. I'm not so hopeful what with the whole not-having-been-updated-for-more-than-half-a-year thing. But stay true, my fans! I'm making a comeback!**


	14. Laughing and Sleeves

Voila

**Voila! I give you… chapter thirteen right after these short messages**

**Disclaimer: what are these anyway? I just go by example, in saying that I don't own Max Ride or anything (which I don't), but why? Can the authors, like, sue us? **

**Max POV**

"Holy sh-" I broke off into an awed silence. Why on EARTH was the rest of the flock there in that random law office in Iowa? They were supposed to be in freakin' _Alaska, _for pete's sake!

And yet there they were, conked out on the sadly outdated couches. Intending to figure out their deal, I went around to each and shook them slightly.

"Iggyyyyyyyyy, we just started sleeping! I don't wanna get up!" complained Gazzy, who then proceeded to roll off the couch and on to the floor. Then upon impact he, out of both habit and instinct, leapt to his feet and then into the air. However, he had changed into a shirt without slits in the back, as that might look a bit odd in a place with humans, and therefore fell to the floor. _That _did a good job of waking everybody else up (even the sleeping man in the first waiting room… oops). Once everyone else was awake they did pretty much the same thing, just (thankfully) without the attempted flying.

Once they all realized what was happening and that there was no danger after all they started laughing. I smiled in spite of myself, and despite the sheer bewilderment that the flock was here, I soon found myself laughing along with them.

Finally Angel spotted me and stopped laughing.

"Max??" she sounded even more stunned to see me than vica verca, which would have made much more sense.

At the sound of that one word, everyone abruptly stopped laughing and all but Iggy looked in my direction.

They all echoed the same word, but they were cut off by Iggy's harsh

"would somebody, _please_ have the decency to tell me what's going on?"

I sighed.

"I would have thought you might have found out from context."

Iggy jumped at the sound of my voice, then looked as confused as the rest.

"what are _you_ doing here?" he demanded.

"good to see you too, Ig."

He rolled his eyes, apparently not amused.

"no, seriously, what are you doing here?"

"hey, you're asking me? Why aren't you in Alaska? I'm at least moderately _close_ to Rhode Island!"

Iggy sighed.

"let's start with this." He started to roll up his shirt sleeves and pants, which was like a cue to the others who started to do the same. As the fabric slowly revealed more skin, I started to see huge yellow and black bruises along with both long and deep cuts.

**Woah! What happened, yo? This is bizarre, eh? I mean, they're in Iowa, all beat up! Stay tuned, folks, and feel free to tell your friends and **

**R**

**E**

**V**

**I**

**E**

**W**

**!**

**!**

**!**

**PS nice sorta long chapter, eh? Eh? Come on, you know you love me!**


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